LIU Changming, WANG Zhonggen, YANG Shengtian, SANG Yanfang, LIU Xiaomang, LI Jun
Following the theory of geography science, especially the theory about land surface system, we investigated the development tendency of hydrological cycle study. On the whole, the study object of hydrology develops from signal-factor process to multi-factor processes in a watershed, and further to the integration of water systems by considering multivariables, multi-processes and multi-scales. Therefore, it is important to develop an integrated hydrological modeling system. We proposed the Hydro-Informatic Modeling System (HIMS), which aims at water cycle in the land surface material and energy exchange processes. The HIMS system takes the water cycle as a complete system, and conducts integrally hydrological modeling. The development processes, main structure and special functions of the HIMS system were overviewed in detail. The developments of HIMS system have obvious three stages. It includes the platform of multi-source information integration, the system of multi-factor quantitatively remote sensing inversion, the integrated system of multiwater processes, and the multi-scale distributed water systems by considering customization. The practicality and progressiveness of the HIMS system have been verified in various applications at home and abroad. Finally, it is pointed out that interdisciplinary study in combination with information technology is one of major tendencies for HIMS development. The basic theories should be concentrated on hydrological cycle, and the simulation functions would be further extended to improve the development of the HIMS system. In the future, the HIMS system can be applicable for the needs of integral water system study, and can be an effective tool for researching water-related issues under the impacts of environmental change.